you used to my touch a bit.”
The realization that he knew exactly how innocent she was whispered through her mind, only to be swamped as the rest of his words registered.
I’m afraid to get used to it. I’m afraid you’ll give me this and end up walking away in the end.
But wasn’t that the risk in every relationship? They didn’t all work out. Was she truly considering not soaking in every moment, every touch, every breath Fionn would give her in the hope that she’d come out the other side of this whole? Because it didn’t matter how little she allowed herself. If he walked away, she’d shatter.
Taking her courage in both hands, she swallowed hard. “Okay, Fionn.”
Satisfaction flashed in his eyes just before he kissed her. He wasn’t gentle. No, this was the same warrior who’d taken her mouth with such brutality the first night he’d come for her, only the anger was missing. This was more like desperation, like he needed to own every last bit of her, this very second. His lips forced hers open; his tongue pushed inside, tangling with hers. He explored her mouth, her teeth, sucked at her tongue. It took her dazed mind a few minutes to realize that her hands were planted on the hard planes of his chest, that she could touch him, explore the lines and angles of his body if she wanted. Claim him as much as he was claiming her.
And oh God, did he feel good.
“Fionn, dinner!”
Siobhan’s voice broke the spell surrounding them. Fionn pulled back slowly, his mouth seeming reluctant to leave hers behind. Beneath her palm, she recognized a rapid thump-thump-thump—his heart was pounding just like hers.
Wonder flared inside her, washed her mind in bright white light. He really meant it. He might fake passion, but he couldn’t fake the racing of his heartbeat.
“C’mon, love.” Fionn cleared his throat. “Let’s be getting you something to eat.”
She nodded, still a little dazed. That lasted until they were descending the stairs, until the scent of roasted meat hit her nose and her stomach actually growled.
Fionn chuckled. “Ya missed lunch.”
And she felt it. The juice she’d had with her meds earlier couldn’t replace a full meal. “I could be completely full and my stomach would growl when I walked into your mother’s kitchen,” she admitted. “Siobhan is a fantastic cook.”
“That she is.”
Thank goodness everyone was fixing their plates when she and Fionn arrived. She didn’t have to wonder who had noticed their absence, if anyone was looking too closely at her lips, which she had no doubt were the slightest bit red and swollen—she knew because Fionn’s were. She’d done that, put the evidence of desire on his face. She wasn’t sure if she’d ever get past the thrill that just the thought sent rolling through her.
“Lyse is going through the police report now,” Fionn said as they began taking seats around the dining table. “What do you remember about the investigation, Mam?”
Siobhan paused with her glass halfway to her lips, frowning. “Not a good deal, I’m afraid. I was stunned, frightened…grieving…at the time.” She took a drink, set her glass down. “They said Ferrina flew into a rage when he discovered Robert had taken the money from wherever they’d intended to hide it in the first place.”
“Why did he move it?” Deacon asked. “He and Ferrina came up with the plan together, I presume? Why double-cross his partner?”
“We can only be speculating there,” Fionn explained. “The murder wasn’t premeditated. The questions we could’ve asked of my father, Ferrina refused to answer.”
“I always thought maybe Robert found some hint of Ferrina wanting to take the money for himself, and moved it instead,” Siobhan said. “Above all, that money was Robert’s security; he wouldn’t let it go easily, especially after all he’d done to get it.”
After what she’d seen in the file she’d dug up, Lyse agreed.
“What can you tell me about your husband personally?” she asked Siobhan. “What did he do besides work? What did he enjoy?”
Siobhan took a bite of her roast, seeming to consider the question for a moment. “Work was his life, mostly. He talked about work and Fionn. Those were his passions.”
A smile tugged at Fionn’s lips. “And giving you whatever you wanted. That was important to him as well.”
Sadness settled on Siobhan’s face. “It was.”
Maybe that was the key Lyse needed. The garda had found no hint of the money Robert had died for, and she had little doubt that bank records and secret